You Disappear With All Your Good Intentions
by SkywardShadow
Summary: -Spoilers- Two less than likely people meet in the afterlife and discuss foolish brothers, among other topics. Somewhat strange oneshot.


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters therein.

**A/N: Spoilers for chapter 480. For the sake of plot, let's pretend Itachi is dead. ;)**

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**You Disappear With All Your Good Intentions**

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A young man wanders his afterlife.

His dark haired is oddly shaped, sticking up in spikes at the back. He's unusually pale-a sharp contrast to dark eyes-and his expression is solemn.

At the edge of forever he watches the living. One person, specifically.

_Madara_, he thinks, eyes never leaving the masked old man. _How far you have fallen. Manipulating human limits to keep yourself alive far past your fated time. Manipulating other's pain and misery to use them for your own ends._

His gaze turns briefly to the teenager with the eyes full of power and hatred. The one fighting his life away for the corrosive goal known as revenge.

_You manipulate even this child?_

It's somewhat strange to think of his descendant as a 'child'-after all, he himself wasn't much older when he died. But he's existed for a long time since then, even if his appearance hasn't aged a day following his end on the battlefield. The only thing that's changed is his eyes-more specifically, the reappearance of them.

He shakes his mind away from unrelated thoughts and resumes his quiet watching. His mind roils.

_Madara…Brother…How did you become this? How could I not have seen that there was something wrong while I lived, while I could still try to do something about it?_

_Have you always been a monster, and I was just too blind to see it?_

Something dark catches his eye. Turning, he sees a tall man in dark clothes standing nearby. He, too, is watching someone. He must be-after all, he's been coming here every day for the past few weeks. But the two have never spoken.

Shrugging to himself, the spiky-haired young man makes his way over. He sees the other man's teeth are gritted, his eyes hard. Still, the former makes his presence known.

"Hello."

The man's eyes flicker towards him, widen briefly in surprise, and then settle into impassiveness.

"I'm sorry. You remind me of someone."

_Do I? That's something I haven't heard before…_ Now that they're close, he can see that the man is pretty young himself. He has long dark hair, black eyes, and two thin, oddly-shaped lines on his face.

He has a hunch. In order to confirm it, he introduces himself.

"I am Uchiha Izuna. Would you mind telling me your name as well?"

"Uchiha Itachi."

Izuna smiles inwardly. _I knew it._

"I'm sorry," Itachi adds, "but I don't recognize your face."

"You wouldn't," Izuna replies lightly, "seeing as I'm a few hundred years or so your elder."

"Ah. I see."

There's a brief silence, during which Izuna notices Itachi's eyes keep darting to the world below in what he must think is a surreptitious way.

"If I may ask, who is it you are always watching?" he has to inquire.

Itachi doesn't answer at first. When he does, it's in a quietly strained voice.

"My brother."

_The boy, perhaps?_ "Ah. Another thing we have in common, then."

"What do you mean?"

Izuna remains impassive as he says, "My brother is down there as well."

Itachi frowns, and Izuna can tell that his mind is working out how any brother of Izuna's can still be alive if Izuna lived so long ago.

He connects the dots quickly, and the frown deepens. "You are Madara's brother."

"Yes, I am."

They stare at each other.

Once more, Izuna is the one to break the silence. "For what it is worth, I am not proud of the things my elder brother has done. Am I correct in guessing that your brother is Madara's companion?"

The other man seems to deflate. "Yes, you are correct. I don't _understand_," he adds, stress suddenly creeping into his tone. "I can't blame him for being angry with Konoha-I knew it was a gamble, hoping he wouldn't listen to Madara-but this…"

Itachi shakes his head wearily. "Just moments ago he ran a trapped girl's heart through. A girl who was his comrade, who saved his life more than once. He murdered her to get to Danzo. Sasuke was…he was never cold like this."

A wry smile. "Perhaps the worst is knowing that it is my fault. He's doing this to avenge our family, to take revenge on Konoha for what they did to him. To us. I _told_ him to seek revenge, years ago. I implanted that mantra in his mind. I made him this."

The man stops and gives the boy below another saddened, tired look.

Izuna recognizes that look. He himself wore it many times over the years, witnessing his flesh and blood commit the atrocities that he did. As such, he's come to identify with it as a look of guilt and sadness, and of despair that comes with watching a loved one destroy themselves when you can do nothing to help.

Almost without thinking about it, he reaches out and puts a hand on the-older? Younger? This is so confusing-man's shoulder.

Itachi wrenches his gaze from the below-world and manages to look grateful.

"Come with me," Izuna says from out of the blue. "We can take a walk. Watching the living nonstop isn't healthy. And I know we're already dead," he adds, seeing Itachi's mouth open and foreseeing a pedantic comment. "But still. I don't know if we're capable of wasting away, and I do not particularly want to find out."

Itachi isn't moving; he still clearly wants to look after his brother.

Izuna sighs. "You cannot do anything for him," he says quietly. "No matter how strong your feelings. Accept this as the advice of someone who knows well-we are dead, and they are living. Nothing we say or do can reach them until…until they join us."

A pained shadow crosses Itachi's face. But as expected, he hears the truth in his relative's words and gives a slow nod.

"Good." Izuna offers a rare smile. "Let's go, then. Our foolish brothers can handle their own affairs without our watchfulness."

Itachi nods again.

Roiling emotions-fear, sadness, anger and love-are temporarily quieted as two clan members from different generations walk off into a few hours of well-deserved peace.

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**Fin**

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End file.
